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adventure and miracles

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Today, we said "yes" to a long train ride to a place we'd never been before. We said yes to an adventure that required us to get up earlier, to not know every possible scenario or every possible outcome, to give up quite a bit of the façade of control, to enter unprepared. We said, I said, "even if we want to go home at noon, we can't." Like any good commitment, it felt brave and absolutely crazy. Absolutely crazy-brave. We were met with miracles. Miracles like smiles at four in the afternoon even without solid naps. Miracles like just enough constant distraction and space to move to keep their minds and hands occupied. Miracles like a waitress who loves kids. Miracles like mommy having enough patience to respond gently when we started getting whimpery near the end. Miracles like coffee. Miracles like a conductor who guided us to a train connection that got us home a full 20 minutes earlier than expected (and boy doesn't each minute count!). Miracles that don't seem like miracles unless you know your children and know their limits and know that you have gone full-steam ahead right past them and everything could just fall apart at any given moment...and yet we are still having a pretty darn good time because we are riding on the top floor of the train, and isn't that just so fun to be riding a vehicle that has more floors than our house?!
And it occurs to me that this is sometimes what most of parenthood requires of you: saying "yes", every day, to something we don't know all about, for which we are constantly, woefully unprepared (and thank God it keeps us humble!). It's saying "yes" to something that could potentially fall apart into one dung heap of an experience (and, ok, occasionally it really does feel like it's turning out that way) and yet constantly being met with miracle after miracle after surprising miracle. This is what we do, right? We see the odds stacked against us. We consider them. And we choose instead to believe that the risk is worth it, that there's something more that we cannot yet see, that we don't yet know, but that we cannot know unless we lay it all out on the table, dive all in. And we are met with miracles.

6 comments:

I loved this, Cat! I admire your bravery in stepping out in the unknown despite the risks of the whole day falling apart. You were absolutely crazy-brave for sure! And the Lord is so sweet to bless you for your willingness to be brave! I love how you connected your train day with everyday life. So beautiful! Way to go, mama!

Oh Cat! I loved every word of this, girl! You are so right: "that this is sometimes what most of parenthood requires of you: saying "yes", every day, to something we don't know all about, for which we are constantly, woefully unprepared..." Beautiful, brilliant words in here, girl.

About me

Hi there! I'm Cat. I'm a Midwest gal figuring out an unexpected life in So Cal with my husband and 3 kids. I miss real fall weather. I write about life mostly through the lens of motherhood. If I love anyone well, it's because of Jesus.